Job Hunters Turning to Plastic Surgery to Compete for Employment

May 10, 2009— -- Ask just about anyone looking for a job right now and they will tell you, it's tough out there.

With more than a half-million more jobs lost last month alone, according to the Department of Labor, older workers can feel at a distinct disadvantage competing against their younger counterparts.

Aimee Gremmo has been looking for a job in catering sales for the last six months. Looking for a job has become her job. She shuttles from the suburbs of Long Island to New York City several times a week, going on interview after interview, but coming back unemployed.

"There are so many restaurants and catering halls [that] are closing down for business, downsizing, so jobs are very few and far between," Gremmo said.

The 43-year-old believes the problem is not in her resume, but in her face.

"I've been told more than once that I sounded much younger on the phone. I've been told that more than once," she said.

Gremmo said she often feels intimidated when she heads to an interview, especially when she sees much younger women applying for the same job.

"Normally when I go into a lobby, there are many people looking for a job ... a lot of them all very young. So that really plays with my self-esteem a little bit. I feel like an older woman seeking the same job as somebody who's just getting out of college," she said.

And she believes employers take age into account.

"I mean, if you go into a grocery store and you saw a stale loaf of bread and a fresh loaf of bread, which one would you chose?" she said.

So Gremmo decided to freshen herself -- and, she hopes, her jobs prospects -- with a facelift.

Gremmo went to Dr. Yan Trokel for a Y-Lift. The procedure requires a series of injections that results in a facelift -- without any surgery -- and takes under an hour.

"The Y-lift is really a three-dimensional lift. Not only do we lift up and back, but we also lift out the volume of the skin. That's what keeps us looking so natural, and fresh, and not pulled," Trokel said. "We can re-elevate the face. We're able to rebuild that hollow-eye look, the cheeks, the jaw line, even make the neck really nice and taught."